The Innocent Spy
by TimIsaFunSucker
Summary: 1/5 in a series.  Everyone is now in Hi Skool, and strange Irken girl shows up on Zim's doorstep, claiming that she wants to help him take over Earth.  But is she someone to be trusted, or feared?  Will be ZaGr later on. Rated T for cussing.
1. Chapter 1 Blue Eyes REWRITTEN

**Okay, so some of you who already follow this story might be wondering, "Wait, what? What do you mean she just uploaded chapter one? I thought she was working on chapter seven!" Well, yes, I am, but I've been planning on doing this for a while, because it was really bugging me-I rewrote chapter one. I really hated the way I started this story, and as my writing skills have developed, I decided I wanted to open the story with something better quality than the old opening. So, without further ado, the new chapter one:**

The figure walked on the cracked sidewalk with an air of confidence. Her mission wasn't simple, but, hey, she liked a challenge. She walked forward swiftly, knowing that the sooner she was there, the sooner she could be finished with her task, and thus the sooner she could return to her home with an honor which had been previously lost.

Behind her trailed a pink, swift-moving cat with violet eyes. These said eyes darted from left to right, seemingly awed by all that was around it. Someone with reason might see it and wonder if it were possible for a feline to have ADD, but not many people these days had such reason, so the overly excited cat gained no notice.

The figure leading the cat smiled. This would be a fun challenge.

**!#$%^&***

A certain green dog sat on the couch in a sort of trance, with all focus it could muster transfixed on the glowing image on the TV. All seemed to be quiet at the time, so of course fate would have it be at that exact time the doorbell rang. Said dog squealed happily, exclaiming, "Cheesecake monsters are hunting walruses!" as it hopped off the couch.

Deep below the house everyone's favorite Irken was working intently when he was alerted by his computer of the presence at the door. Irritated, he pushed a button in order to communicate with the spastic robot upstairs.

"GIR!" Zim spoke, "Do not answer the door until I come up. I need to put on my ingenious disguise, then I'll come. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Gir responded, seemingly in command mode for the time being. Zim smirked to himself.

"Good." He then cut the communication.

Upstairs, though, Gir quickly lost interest in listening to his master, and walked forward to open the door anyways. Once he had reached the door Zim was just now coming out of the kitchen-area.

He saw the robot about to answer the person waiting patiently outside, and tried to shout a warning. It was too late, though, and the spaz-bot was already sticking his head out the door and blabbering his greeting.

"Hi stranger-lady! You're pretty, I like you! You're hair's all pink! I like pink! Do you? Huh? Do ya? Do ya? Huh? Huh?"

"Ignore the talking dog, he is just merely an...um...wind=up toy! Yes! Now who are you, pathetic human?" Zim shouted quickly, rushing forward to face the person who dared approach the house of ZIM!

The girl just stared for a moment, seeming to read him with her icy-blue eyes before asking, "Are you the Irken called Invader Zim?"

Zim was confused for a moment, before he attempted to put on his best stupid-face (which, mind you, wasn't very hard) and said, "Irken? What's an Irken? Now, begone with you before I call the human police on you, you pathetic female!"

Immediately the pink cat that had been sitting alert at it's master's feet shot up to Zim's shoulders and began rubbing her furry face on the Irken's green one. Zim stared a the feline for a few seconds before saying, "As you leave, would you also please call you're cat-beast off of Zim?"

The girl snickered evilly at Zim's discomfort, pushing a little bit of her unevenly cut sort, pink hair behind her ear. "Iva, desist." She said, though she did so with a bored tone, as if she wanted to watch the alien's discomfort for a little longer. The cat obeyed and hopped from Zim's shoulder to her master's, and resting in an alert, and soldier-like position

The girl smirked, looking Zim in the eyes. "You know, you're disguise isn't that great. We could improve it a bit, though, maybe upgrade you to a half-decent hologram, or something."

Zim frowned deeper. "What nonsense do you speak? ZIM IS AMAZING! You are simply crazy! Now leave the property of ZIM!"

The little kitty jumped down from her master's should as the girl shook her head, as if she were scolding a child. "I won't argue with you on the crazy thing, but I refuse to leave." She then smiled darkly. "You could say that we Irkens are stubborn like that."

"Eh? What are you-?" Zim began, before the girl started to change into a fast blur of colors. Eventually the blur disappeared, revealing a mint-colored Irken where the girl had previously been, and a SIR unit with glowing pink eyes and a dress-shaped body where the cat had been.

Glancing around quickly, Zim grabbed the girl-er, Irken, by the hand and pulled her inside his base,. The SIR, apparently named Iva, jumped in quickly with a joyful "Whee!" before the door was slammed. "Are you stupid or something?" Zim demanded of the female stranger.

Said stranger frowned upon hearing this. "No, I'm crazy, not stupid! You, however, seem to be the one who can't put two-and two together!"

"This has nothing to do with math!" Zim insisted. "Tell me who you are and why you are on this planet!" He looked angrily at the intruder's face, which held some oddities, such as her aqua-blue eyes and the scar that raked across her right eye.

"Fine," she said, her eyes narrowing with dislike. "I am Ex-Invader Ashta. My mission was cut short by the Tallests when they deemed my assigned planet as unnecessary to the Empire, and myself unfit to conquer. Not wanting to be a useless appendage to the Empire, I looked around for any nearby Invaders who I could assist, and I found you." She paused, and then said, "Good enough for ya?"

Zim scoffed. "Why would I need the help of someone who was deemed unfit to conquer? I have great plans for this filthy planet, and none of them require you! I, unlike you, are a true Invader, and Invaders need NO ONE! Now begone with you!"

Ashta smiled sweetly. "Oh, Zim, didn't I already tell you several times that I'm not leaving?" She then moved in closer to Zim's face, her voice barely above a whisper, but still threatening. "Either you accept my help or your base and everything within a five-mile radius will be nothing but ashes and burning embers!" She got a good look at Zim's surprised expression before saying, "What? You're not the only one who knows how to cause mass destruction! Plus, let's face it, you need my help. _Badly._ All I require is room and board, plus the resources you posses. It shouldn't be _that_ hard to put up with me!" She then backed away, her long and mangled-looking antennae swooshing forward. "So what's your answer?"

Zim growled before saying, "Fine, you can stay, but do not touch my stuff without Zim's permission! And no going into the lab! Understand?"

"I don't think you're in the position to make the rules, but whatever." Ashta said, nodding slightly.

"I have an extra storage room down below the base you an use for your living-quarters-" Zim began before being cut off by Ashta.

"Whoa, there, Zimmers. I'm not staying anywhere underground. I need natural light. Either I stay above ground, or I go even more psycho than normal. Trust me, during training I was kept in a padded cell nearly every other day."

Zim grumbled something along the lines of, "I'm sure you were," before responding, "Fine! Zim will add a new room onto the base, but it shall take a day or so. Until then you can put your thing in the kitchen-area. My SIR unit, Gir will lead you." He paused, before saying, "Where is your ship, by the way?"

Ashta shrugged. "In the woods not far from here, cloaked as a tree with the Empire's Insignia carved into it. What? I'm not careless enough to just leave it on the sidewalk or something!*"

Zim nodded, before barking out, "Computer, take me to the equipment room!" The tie he had been standing on began sinking, only to be replaced with a new one. On the way down, Zim thought about his current position, and how he already did not care for Ashta at all. It also seemed to him that parts of Ashta's speech seemed rehearsed. He just shrugged it off, though.

Up in the base Ashta turned to a disguised Gir and said, "Lead the way, Ring-a-Ling-a-Ding-Dong."

***Because in the original I never really assessed where her ship was, and I made it sound almost as if she left it in the middle of the street.**

**Hooray for Rewrite! How come I was able to rewrite chapter one in two days, but it takes me nearly a month (sometimes more) to upload a new chapter? CURSE YOU, WRITER'S BLOCK, YOU FOUL ENEMY!**

**Yeah, though, I do owe an apology for all my late updates. The thing is, I usually get writer's block halfway through the chapter and all my thoughts just come to a screeching halt. I hate it with a passion, but there's nothing I can do until I get a sudden inspiration and start writing again. This story is actually my top priority, and I've put all my other current stories on hold until I finish or get a grip on this one, but I still update slower than a snail. So please, have patience with me. I know how aggravating it is to wait for an update, but it makes me just as angry that I can't provide speedy updates like others.**

**So yeah, other than that super-long apology, how did you like the rewrite? Did you like the older one better, or was this one nicer? Please tell me and please review! And real quick, let me give a shout-out to Zim'sMostLoyalServant, who reviews every chapter. Thank you for your feedback! ;D**


	2. Chapter 2 A Twist

**Sorry for the late edit, but it's been hard with school. I'm also trying to keep up with my other current fics. I'm going to have to off my Harry Potter fic, though. The final chapter of that and more info is yet to come. Sorry. On a brighter note, check this out, a plot-twist! Now, read:**

It was either late at night or early in the morning when Ashta snuck out of her makeshift bed on the couch and starting creeping around the base. Zim was already in his room, dead asleep. Gir was probably with him, and Iva with Gir.

It was the perfect time for Ashta to report to her Tallests.

Ashta knew she couldn't trust Iva with the true nature of her mission, since the robot had already shown she was no good with secrets. Ashta's thoughts wandered as she made her way to the kitchen. She then slipped into the lower part of Zim's "house" via the trashcan (Because why on Irk would she want to flush herself down the toilet?). Once there, she approached the giant screen in front of her and typed in the Tallests' number. There was static for a while before there was finally an answer.

The faces of Red and Purple filled the screen, staring down at Ashta. "Ah, Assassin Ashta. It's about time you called in." Red said, looking very commanding next to his college, who was eating a bag on donuts with much enthusiasm. "Do you have anything to report?"

"Forgive me for my lateness, my Tallests; I had to wait until I was certain Zim was asleep. He took the bait like planned, but he seemed a little skeptical of me. Should I be on high alert?" Ashta questioned. Even though Zim was quite stupid, she (and nearly everyone else) had heard of the destruction he had managed to cause during Operation Impending Doom 1. The moronic little Irken seemed to bring chaos and doom with him wherever he went.

"That's unnecessary, Ashta. I don't think he could figure our elaborate plan out, and even if he did it's not like he'd be able to stop you. Don't worry; he's not much of a threat." Red answered her. Ashta frowned a bit. Red always seemed too sure of himself.

"Very well. My Tallests, I have a question, though. Why can't I just finish him off and be done with it? Why must I help this imbecile take over this dirt-rock anyways? It's of no use to the Irken Empire."

This time, Purple interjected. "Because you agreed that in order to prove yourself as both an assassin AND an Invader you would do both. It's in the contract-thingy you signed, remember?" He talked with is mouth full, sending donut crumbs flying.

Ashta sighed deeply. "Yes, my Tallests. I remember. Before I sign out, though, can I ask one more thing?"

Red frowned a little. "I know what you're going to ask. No, we do not, at this time, have any information regarding Trainee Izie. No more than you already know. Sorry."

Ashta's face fell a bit. "You don't even know her whereabouts?"

"No. Again, sorry."

Ashta sighed heavily, then looked back up at the screen. "Very well. That is all, My Tallests. Until next time, Assassin Ashta, signing out." Ashta saluted, and then cut the transmission. She then started to stealthily make her way back to the living room.

****Aboard the Massive:**

After the transmission ended Red fell into a small fit of laughter. "She's not bright, that one, is she?" he asked Purple.

"Nope!" Purple answered. He paused, though, and then said, "Um, who are we talking about?"

Red smacked his palm against his face and said, "Ashta, you idiot! And chew your food before you talk next time, Pur. That's disgusting."

"Oh. Okay." Purple said, still sending crumbs flying.

Red sighed for a moment, then continued. "How could she possible believe we don't know where Trainee Izie is? If she's a Trainee she's obviously at the academy! And even if we didn't know, what's to stop us from looking it up? Poor little Ashta doesn't know she's really only a pawn in our massive game." Red had a sinister look on his face, and he held his fist in front of himself, giving his the classic "evil villain" look.

"Oh, cool, we're playing chess? I wanna be black!"

"DAMMIT, PURPLE! You just ruined the moment!"

**Whatch'ya think? I know, it's short, but it has a lot of information stuffs in it. I hope you liked it! If you did, then review! And if you didn't, then Fu- JUST KIDDING! ^-^ If you didn't like it, still review, I can handle constructive criticism! If you didn't notice, I'm trying to really get the ball rolling on this story, since Meghan desperately wants to be able to upload the second story in this series. (And NO, Meghan, the story will NOT be called "Assassin Smo Smashin" [Read the first letter of every word.])**

**BYEE! ^-^**


	3. Chapter 3 Skool and Izie

**First Chapter: Introduce characters.**

**Second Chapter: Plot thickens.**

**Third Chapter: Get to know characters better.**

**Yep, I TOTALLY planned all this out! ^^**

**Tim: No you didn't…**

**GODDAMMIT GET BACK IN DAIZQD YOU WORTHLESS COMPUTER! (A/N end!)**

**Also, for anyone who was under a false pretense that this story would be Zim/OC or Dib/OC you are sadly mistaken. It says clearly in the description it will be a ZaGr fic, meaning Zim/Gaz. Sorry, but Ashta is, as my friend Bri would call her, "a lonely loner of lonely-town!"**

Ashta had barely drifted off to sleep when Zim woke her up. "Hey, you! Ashta! Wake up! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Wake up! Hey!"

Ashta groaned and rolled over. "I will kill you if it's really as early as I THINK it is." She muttered sleepily.

"It's 6 o'clock AM." Zim answered in a know-it-all voice.

"Exactly." Ashta growled.

"Well I needed to wake you up early so we could go and register you at the horrible Skool." Zim responded.

Ashta opened one eye curiously. "'Skool?' What the hell is that?" She asked.

"It's a horrible place-"Zim began, only to be interrupted by Ashta.

"Yeah, you've already assessed that."

Zim's eyes narrowed and he continued. "ANYWAYS, it's a building the humans go to in order to learn. Or so they say. Really all you do is sit in front of a scary lady who rambles on about how we're all doomed for seven hours straight."

Ashta raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "And this is necessary because…?" She questioned.

Zim raised both fists into the air and declared loudly, "TO SEEM NORMAL IN THE EYES OF THE HUMANS!"

Ashta simply rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because you blend in SO well already…"

"SILENCE! You have much to learn about these humans…SO MUCH!"

Ashta could almost hear her IQ draining after talking to this idiot. "Look, you. While you might have spent the entire six-month trip to Earth listening to the ear-rape entitled 'The Doom Song' **I **took the opportunity to do a little research on this race. I know exactly how to act and look around them, and quite frankly your disguise is so transparent it's sheer MIRACLE you haven't been noticed yet."

Zim just stared at Ashta as she continued her rant.

"I probably know more about this planet than you do after being here for YEARS! And I've been here for only a few hours, most of which with this hemisphere's entire population asleep! DO NOT think you can boss me around, because you think you have a certain seniority, because believe me, bub, you do NOT!" Ashta was huffing and puffing by this time, as she hadn't inhaled once during her entire tirade.

Zim blinked, opened his mouth as if to speak, then shut it again, lost for words. Eventually he just mumbled "Get your disguise on and get ready for Skool, we leave in ten minutes." He then left the room, still processing what all Ashta had said, most likely trying to think of a witty comeback.

Ashta almost felt bad for the little guy. It wasn't like he had anyone to rely on. It didn't seem likely that he would have picked up any allies from this race, and he definitely didn't have the Tallests' support. A smile twitched at Ashta's mouth. This would be one of her easiest missions yet.

"Well, YOU'RE UGLY!" Came the voice of Ashta's newest victim

Ashta rolled her eyes. "It took you THAT long to come up with a comeback that LAME?" She continued to get ready, however, by pressing a button on her PAK, and changing back to her human disguise. She finished up by brushing her rose-colored hair to perfection, and snapping in a skull-shaped hair clip. She then stood near the door and waited for Zim. "ZIM! If you want to get to the 'Skool' at the time you said, then we need to go. NOW! You DO NOT want to see me in ultra-bitch mode, so get your ass down here!"

Zim came into the living room, muttering to himself. Ashta caught a few words, which were, "Ultra-bitch mode? And just what do you call your behavior NORMALY…?" She growled at him, though, which shut him up for the entire walk to Skool.

When they entered the broken-down building they took a left and entered the office. There was a pudgy lady reading an outdated fashion magazine and sitting behind a huge desk.

"Ms. Briggs?" Zim said. The lady didn't seem to hear him. Ashta then took note of the white Apple-brand ear buds she was using. "MS. BRIGGS!" Zim hollered. The lady looked up from her magazine and groaned.

"What is it now, _Zim_? Did you set a student on fire again or something?" She asked. Ashta raised an eye brow and looked at Zim. He set a kid on fire?

"NO! And that was an accident!" Zim protested. "I'm here to register my cousin at this horrid place." Ashta's eyebrow went up even higher. Cousin?

"Fine." Ms. Briggs mumbled. She then got out a sheet of paper and a pen. "Name?"

"Ashta Nekri (**A/N: **"Nekri" is Irken spelled backwards.)." Ashta answered without hesitation.

"Age?"

"16."

"Any allergies?"

"Nope." Zim's jaw went slack upon hearing this. If she knew so much about the human race then surely she knew that most of their foods were toxic to Irkens?

"All right, then. You're in Ms. Bitter's home room, which is first period. You're in luck, your cousin and you are in the same classes together." She then handed Ashta a class schedule and a map labeled "Hi Skool." "Try not to get lost, I hate having to come after stupid kids who can't memorize the halls on their own." Ms. Briggs mumbled angrily.

Ashta thanked Ms. Briggs, then walked out of the office with Zim in tow. Once they were out of earshot Zim stared at Ashta. "What the heck do you mean, 'no allergies?' Sixty-percent of this planet's food-pyramid is toxic to Irkens!"

Ashta just stared coldly at Zim, then said, "I have much more advanced disguise technology than you. My disguise is not simply a costume, or even a hologram. The technology I posses actually turns me into a human for a temporary amount of time. Thus, I am immune to the things that would commonly harm Irkens." She then grew a patronizing smile. "Pretty neat, huh?"

**This is a page break, DooDeeDooDeeDoo, DooDeeDooDeeDoo…**

Ashta stood at the front of the class, with a deadpan look on her face. She didn't want to be there, and she was going to make damn sure the whole class knew it.

"Despite my, and most of the staff's, futile attempts to convince the principal that you lot of sewer rats are enough to handle, the state is dumping another worthless parasite onto the back of broken society. This is your new student, Ashta Nekri. She is Zim's cousin, and luckily doesn't have the same hideous skin condition as him. Let's hope she is scared away by the ugly face of real-life before she settles here. Now, take your seat right there." Ms. Bitters pointed to Zita's seat, and instantly Zita was dropped into an unknown abyss while a new desk replaced her old location.

Ashta took her seat, and whipped out a notebook. While most people would be taking notes, Ashta entertained herself by drawing little pictures and doodles of Zim being tortured, maimed, beaten, killed, and eaten by various beasts. Ashta was so draw into her "work" that she didn't even notice the purple-haired female from her look over her shoulder.

"Nice drawings. I like the one where he's on fire." The girl spoke, startling Ashta.

"Um, thanks…I guess..." Ashta said to the girl. She had long, violet hair that reached her mid-back. She wore a small black tee over a long-sleeved gray and black striped shirt. She had on a black denim skirt and black knee-high converse with belts covering them (A/N: I've seen shoes like these before in Journey. I. Want. Them.). Under these she wore purple and black striped leggings, and to cap it off she wore a carved skull necklace.

"So, if your Zim's cousin, I guess that means you're an alien, too, huh?"

This made Ashta start to sweat. How did she know Zim and her weren't human? Was Zim really that stupid to go blabbing his real identity to his whole class? "I don't-" Ashta began, but was quickly cut off by the girl.

"I know because of my stupid brother." She pointed to a boy a few seats away from them, who was staring intently at Ashta.

"The one with the big head?" Ashta inquired.

"That's the one." The girl answered. "He is obsessed with the paranormal, and saw through Zim's pathetic disguise immediately. He's determined to save the Earth, but I personally think Zim's too stupid to ever take over."

Ashta mulled this over, then said, "Yes, but I'm not exactly as brain-dead as my friend with the inflated ego over there." She motioned to Zim. "How do you know I'm not a threat?"

The girl shrugged. "I never said you weren't a threat. Honestly, after our little chat I think you might actually be capable of taking over this God-forsaken planet. Good for you. This planet deserves to be destroyed. Its entire population is made up of idiots." The girl then held out her hand. "I'm Gaz, by the way. Gaz Membrane."

Ashta smirked, and returned the handshake. "Invader Ashta. By the way, Zim and I aren't related at all. It's just something he came up with."

Gaz shook her head. "Bad idea, saying you're related to Zim. That means my brother, Dib, already knows you an alien. And he won't let up in trying to prove it."

Ashta's smile widened. "I can take anything he's got."

**Somewhere on the barren surface of what used to be Blorch.**

Izie glided easily over the sandy surface of the once abundant planet. She was running and jumping so easily and fluidly she seemed to be flying. She smirked. She loved this part of the kill. The chase was always just what she needed to get her blood pumping.

Her golden eyes were trained on her prey. She wouldn't lose them. She never lost them. She was like a hungry jungle-cat hunting her next meal. She didn't use her spider-legs that were tucked away in her PAK. She didn't need them. Plus, it would only make the hunt too easy.

She was gaining on the frightened being when it tripped clumsily. She shook her head disapprovingly. So stupid, they were. She slowed her pace and approached the small thing slowly. She was taunting it, like she always did.

She kicked the being and it whimpered lightly. "Get up." She spoke in a harsh voice. It rose slowly, quivering all over.

It was an Irken, not much older than a smeet. Her skin was almost white and it clung to her bones like wet cloth. The poor thing hadn't been eating much of anything in a long time. Its glistening pinkish-red eyes searched Izie desperately for mercy. Sadly for her, Izie wasn't the forgiving type.

Izie grabbed the smeet's neck and held her at eye level, the with youngster's feet up off the ground. She held a knife up to her abdomen, poised for the kill.

"Hello, little defective." She said, her voice dripping with venom. The smeet cringed. "You thought you could run away from the Empire, didn't you? Thought they wouldn't bother looking for a little defect who was trying to avoid her fate. Well let me be the first to tell you that _you were wrong_. The Empire looks down upon pitiful disgraces like you. It was a stupid thing you did, running away. And now, you're going to pay for it."

Izie ran the knife smoothly though the location of the smeet's squeedley-spooch, as well as her PAK. As the little thing died Izie leaned in close to her antennae and whispered, "The Tallests send their regards."

**o.O That last part was…dark. Well, now you know a little more about who Izie is. But why is Ashta searching for her? You'll find out later. :P Izie is owned by Meghan (Invader Riyo on fanfiction). I wasn't going to write that scene, but then I saw a picture Meghan drew of Izie holding a defective smeet it the position mentioned and I just had to write it. Figured I'd give you guys a little more background on the mysterious Izie.**

**I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER! You have no idea what the last few weeks of school were like for me, though! IT WAS HELL! It's summer now, though, and hopefully I'll have more time to update!...Except for all of next week. I'm going on vacation with my friends to a resort in the Wisconsin Dells. I won't have access to a computer, so I won't be able to read or write fanfiction. If it weren't for all the waterparks and such it would be pure torture! I'll probably go crazy because of "ZaGr Withdrawal" halfway through the week. :/ (I won't be the only one, though. I expect Meghan will wig out, too. WON'T YOU, MEGGY? [Meh, who am I kidding…she and I will only last one day without out ZaGr-ee goodness.])**

**Hopefully next chapter I can work in the beginning of some ZaGr! :) ZaGr will be a big part of the plot later in the series. (If you didn't already know, I'm writing a series with Invader Riyo [Meghan], I just happen to have the first story.)**

**SEE ASHTA! My description of Ashta sucks, so I figured you guys would like to see what she looks like. WELL, I recently got a DeviantART account, and I have uploaded several pics of Ashy. My username is "Mkayla50". Just search me, and pictures should show up. (Some may be Ashta, others might not. Just go to my profile. I have two folders for Ashta: Ones made on the computer, and ones I drew.) Also, if you have a DA account, don't forget to add me to your watch! ;D**

**So, Meghan, what did you think of how I wrote Izie? :P**


	4. Chapter4 Dib's Worst Nightmare Come True

**Yay, an update! ^^**

**So, I got a review saying that I should tone it down on the cussing. And after rereading it, I can understand that it might have contained a little too much. I'll try to tune it down, but this beginning part contains some language because I just HAD to do this! I saw this on a sign and it was just so Ashta I HAD to use it!**

Ashta walked in the door to Zim's base carrying several shopping bags. She also was wearing a new outfit. It contained a pair of black shorts, black fingerless gloves, a pair of converse covered in random zippers, and a shirt that read, "BITCH ZONE- But that's 'Ms. Bitch' to you!" She was also drinking a Suck Monkey. She casually dropped the bags onto the floor with no care and pranced over to the couch to watch TV.

Zim had been standing in the doorway and was now looking at Ashta with a look that was a horrid mix or anger, disgust, and annoyance.

Ashta looked up at Zim after ignoring him for quite some time. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Where do I begin?" Zim blew up. "One, why are you out shopping when there is a planet to conquer? Two, where did you get the money to go shopping in the first place? And three, are you seriously just going to leave those bags there in the middle of the floor? You're acting like a slob!"

Ashta casually sipped her Suck Monkey, taking her time before she answered Zim's questions. "One, we have plenty of time before we need to take it over. Genius plans take genius time and planning. Two, I borrowed some money from Gaz. We went shopping together. And three….yeah. Your point?"

Zim's eye twitched. "Zim's point is if I'm going to have to share my base with you the least you can do is try to keep it clean! And you were out socializing with a human? That's against nearly every war-code in the book!"

Ashta narrowed her aqua-colored eyes. "For your information, Gaz hates this planet just as much as you or me. I actually think we may be able to recruit her as a partner in our conquest. You're welcome." Ashta turned her attention back to the TV and took another sip of her drink. "By the way, is my room done yet?"

Zim growled. "Yes. It's ready for you to move into." He then mumbled "Ungrateful little-" but then he was cut off by Ashta.

"Good. Otherwise I'd cut you head off with Mr. Cuts."

"Mr. Cuts?"

"Yep. He's my knife. And he's pretty sharp." She then reached down towards her shoe and pulled out a sharp-looking curved knife with a purple jewel built into the blade. "See? And if I push his buttons," She pressed the jewel, and the blade began to glow with purple energy. "He gets angry." She then pressed the jewel again and the glow died down. Then the knife was placed back into her shoe. "Cool, huh?"

Zim could feel the sweat beads begin to form on his brow. "Where did you even get a knife such as that?" He asked.

Ashta shrugged. "I picked it off some dead guy."

Zim shook his head to clear it. "WHAT?"

"Never mind." Ashta mumbled, realizing she might have said too much. "Computer!" She ordered.

"Yes Ashta?" The house responded.

"Please put my bags in my new room."

"Yes ma'am." It answered, using a giant vacuum to suck up all the shopping bags.

Zim's mouth was wide open as he stared. The he snapped out of it. "HEY! My computer only obeys me! COMPUTER! OBEY ME! OBEY ZIM! Put Ashta's bags back NOW!"

"Voice not recognized. Command disregarded." The computer spoke in an automated voice as it continued to suck up Ashta's bags.

"Eh? Not recognized? I am your master! Stop this nonsense!"

"Voice not recognized. Command disregarded." The computer droned again.

Zim turned to Ashta with a look of hatred on his face. "What did you do to my computer?" He asked in an eerily calm voice.

"I made it so only obeys people with brains, namely, not you."

"How dare you touch my equipment!" Zim shouted. "Get out of my base this instant!"

Ashta stayed put. "If I recall correctly, this isn't very much your base if it only obeys me. If anything it's _my_ base now!"

Zim was practically shaking with rage, but unfortunately he was backed into a corner. If there was one good thing he could say about Ashta it would be that she had a way with words. He sighed, knowing he was defeated. "Fine. But can you PLEASE make it so it will at least obey both of us?"

Ashta rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. But only because I'm in a semi-good mood." Just then the doorbell rang. "I'll have to get on that later, though." She hopped down off the couch and opened the door. "Hey, Gaz."

Zim's eyes shot open. "The Gaz-Human? What is she doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Zim." Gaz said angrily.

"Didn't I make myself clear when I told you we could use her in our mission to take over the earth? She's here to plan." Ashta said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I never agreed to your plan! There is no way Zim is going to work with a _human_." Zim said defiantly.

Gaz shrugged. "Fine. Rot on this planet for all I care." She turned, as if to go.

Luckily, Zim caught on. "Okay, okay! I will allow you to assist for a little while, but then you will leave me alone!"

"Whatever." Gaz said, taking out her precious video games.

**Later, In Zim's Lab…**

Gaz was only half paying attention. Right now not much planning was going on, either way. Most of the time was being taken up by Zim and Ashta's constant bickering.

"I'M TELLING YOU, IN ORDER TO CRIPPLE THIS PLANET WE NEED RADIOACTIVE GERBILS!"

"WE ARE NOT AND NEVER WILL BE USING RADIOACTIVE GERBILS! GET THAT THROUGH YOU INCREDIBLY MORONIC HEAD! **NO GERBILS!**"

"NOT JUST ANY GERBILS, **RADIOACTIVE GERBILS!**"

"NO RODENTS WHATSOEVER!"

Gaz was glancing around at all the alien technology when she spotted something in the corner of the room. It was a spy bug. One of _Dib's_ spy bugs. She noticed that it was focused on Zim and Ashta, and probably couldn't see her. Slowly Gaz came up with a purely evil plan.

Abruptly, and without warning she walked forward, took Zim into her arms, and planted a giant kiss on Zim's alien face. The she turned to the hidden camera, bowed, and then punched its lens into a million pieces.

Both Zim and Ashta stood there with surprised looks on their faces (though Zim's looked more mortified). No one knew what to say.

Finally Zim broke the silence.

"WHAT ON IRK WAS THAT? HOW DARE YOU, A FILTHY HUMAN TOUCH THE GLORIOUS FACE OF ZIM?

Gaz reached into the wall and pulled out the shattered spy bug. "I decided to give out audience a little show. Trust me, it wasn't personal. I think I'd rather eat a sandwich made if my own eyeballs than kiss you. But I couldn't resist and opportunity to scare Dib into cardiac arrest."

Silence followed once again, only to be interrupted by something completely unexpected. Ashta _giggled._ The giggling soon turned into a full out laugh, eventually crippling Ashta to the point of rolling on the ground and clutching her sides.

"Yes, well I'm glad **someone** thinks this is funny." Zim muttered bitterly.

Ashta quickly recovered enough to say something. "I have an idea!"

"Eh?" Zim asked.

"While I think that your previous performance may have put Dib in the emergency room, more can be done."

"Meaning?" Gaz asked, now interested.

"Pretend to be dating Zim, and Dib may just pop an important blood vessel in his mammoth head."

"WHAT?" Both Zim and Gaz shouted angrily.

"Never! While many things are wrong with this, Zim will point out the two most obvious: she's a human, and she's mean!"

"Not to mention that Zim is a pompous ass." Gaz added.

"HEY!"

Ashta rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking you two to actually go out! _Pretend_. It would be amusing to see Dib's reaction."

"NEVER! I refuse! I will not stoop so low, even if it is to annoy the Dib-human!"

Ashta's eyes narrowed. She hated it when people didn't accept her plans. "Either you and Gaz pretend to go out or this base will never listen to you again!" She then reached out and the impossible. She took Gaz's GameSlave. "And you won't get to play this, either!"

Gaz stared at her new friend, flames raging in her eyes. She could try to get her game back, but it was a good chance Ashta would be able to over-power her. It wasn't like Ashta was an amateur like Zim. "Fine, I give in. Just give me my game or I'll throw you into a pit of doom and man-eating squirrels."

Ashta smiled a little triumphantly, but then turned to Zim. "I dunno. It's up to dumb-ass here."

Gaz growled. "Zim, agree to whatever she says, or I'll make you wish you never came to this planet. Got it? I'll haunt you until the day you die, you alien nuisance!"

Zim shuddered. He wouldn't admit it, but one of the only people in the world that scared him was Gaz. "Fine. But let it be known that Zim did not agree willingly."

Ashta's smile widened as she gave Gaz's game back. "No one's asking if you did."

**Later, at Dib and Gaz's house…**

Gaz walked up the porch to her house. Before she could even touch the doorknob, though, the door swung open suddenly.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Dib shouted, confronting his sister.

"Glad to see you, too." Gaz muttered, casually entering the house and taking off her coat.

"How could you…why would you…HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?" He demanded of his sister.

Gaz smirked deviously. "What, destroying you spy-bug or the kiss?

"**BOTH!**" Dib shouted, enraged at Gaz. "But more importantly the kiss! He's an alien, Gaz! Need I remind you he's trying to destroy us all?"

"Oh, I guess you didn't hear. Well, newsflash, he and I are dating. And yeah, I know. I think a good blowing-up is exactly what this planet needs. Now if you excuse me, I'll be in my room."

Gaz walked past her brother and up the staircase. Dib was in hot pursuit, trying to stop her. "Is he using mind control? Is he threatening you? Gaz, come on, no sane person would-"

"Good night." Gaz shut the door in his face and promptly locked it. For about tem minutes Dib stood outside of it, pounding on the door and demanding answers. After so long, he decided to give up and try again tomorrow morning.

Gaz waited five more minutes before picking up her cell phone and dialing Ashta's number. "Hey, Ashta? It worked. You should have seen his face; it was purpler than a ripe plum!"

"That's hilarious; you should've taken a picture!" Ashta spoke on the other end. "Just wait, though. What I have planned will have him in an early grave by next week! 'Till then, talk to ya later!"

**Later that night, at Zim and Ashta's base…**

Ashta once again stood in front of the massive communicator screen, waiting for the fuzz to thin out and for the Tallests to pick up. After about two minutes they did.

"Assassin Ashta, what do you have to report?" Asked Red, sounding official compared to his partner, who was currently having trouble eating a chocolate cornet.

"Hey, Red, how do you even eat this thing? If you try eating it on this end all the chocolate cream comes out! And you can't fit the other end in your mouth! And which end is the head, anyways-?"*

"SHUT UP AND EAT THE STUPID PASTRY, PUR!" Red shouted, aggravated at the antics of his fellow leader. He sighed, then turned back to Ashta, to hear her status update.

"Sir, not much progress has been made since I contacted you a few days ago, but I did enlist the help of a local. She's very powerful, and will most likely prove useful in taking over this planet." Ashta hesitantly paused, then said, "Any news on Izie?"

"No, Ashta. We have not made any progress on finding the whereabouts of Trainee Izie. If we did we would alert you right away. You do not need to ask us each time you make a status report." Red answered, his face hard and unreadable, like stone.

Ashta sighed. "Yes, my Tallests. Well, that is all I had to address. Until next time, Assassin Ashta, signing off." Ashta pushed a button and ended the transmission. She sighed once more and leaned against the control panel. She was beginning to think they weren't even looking for any leads on Izie.

Ashta hoped that wasn't true, and that they really were searching. She really wanted to know where her sister was.

**DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN! Izie is Ashta's sister! That's why she s searching for her! Betchya didn't see THAT coming! (Unless you follow me or Meghan and deviantART…) Either way, I don't know about you, but after last chapter I'm not sure that Izie is really just a "Trainee."**

**And I've got the ball rolling on a little ZaGr! (Even if at the moment it's fake and only a way to annoy Dib to no end.) What does Ashta have planned? O.O To hell if I know. -.- WAIT, I'm the author! I mean, OF CORSE I KNOW WHAT ASHTA'S UP TO! ^^**

**Whew! This is probably one of the fastest updates I've done so far! ^^ I hope you enjoyed it! See ya next chappy! ;D**

***This is a reference to the hilarious anime "Lucky Star." In the first episode they were having a similar conversation on how to properly eat a chocolate cornet, and which end is the head. I love that show, it has no plot whatsoever! xD**


	5. Chapter 5 Planning the Kill

**I updated this on deviantART yesterday…BEFORE I posted it on fanfiction…U MAD? *insert trollface here***

**I've recently started watching the anime, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzamiya" and I think Ashta reminds me a bit of Haruhi. But only because Haruhi is bat-shit crazy. Just thinking. :/**

**Sadly, school is rearing its ugly head again. Meaning? Either I update with shorter chapters, or I update less often. Sorry, but unfortunately, with school comes insanely hard Algebra homework. :( ANYWAYS, without further delay, chapter five of The Innocent Spy!**

"What do you mean we have to walk to Skool alone?" Gaz screamed at Ashta.

"In order to look like a couple you need to walk each other to school. And it wouldn't really help to have me there as a third wheel, so I'll just walk alone." Ashta responded, keeping her cool under the furious gaze of Gaz.

"I refuse to hold his hand." She grumbled. Ashta raised an eyebrow.

"I wasn't going to say anything about it, but that does sound like a good idea."

"NO TOUCHING!"

"Whatever." Ashta sighed. They were both standing in the living room of her and Zim's house, waiting for Zim to get ready to go. "C'MON! YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE KEEPING GAZ WAITING!" Ashta hollered at him. She then turned to Gaz. "Well, if I'm not walking with you guys I guess that means I don't have to wait on the brainless-wonder, so I'll meet you at Skool, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Gaz grumbled, still angry about Ashta's little scheme.

Ashta turned and walked out the door, and once she had gone a few blocks she stopped in her tracks. She then turned and headed for the nearby woods. The real reason she'd brushed off Gaz and Zim was so she could skip Skool and be alone. So she could be alone to plan.

You see, since arriving on Earth Ashta hadn't done much of any bit of planning on how to kill Zim. She knew that it was inevitable, and frankly she'd like it to be over with as quickly as possible. Ashta set to work, pulling a tablet out of her PAK (which was still disguised as a backpack) that somewhat resembled an iPad. She then pulled out a communicator. "Iva, respond."

Iva's happy-go-lucky voice filled the woods surrounding Ashta. "Hiya, Master! Where are you, that don't sound like Skool to me!"

"Iva, listen carefully. I need you to meet me at the woods near the outskirts of town. Understand?"

"Okee! Can Gir come?"

"NO! Iva, this is very important! Gir cannot come, and he can't know where you are going! Okay?"

Iva's voice dropped, and over the communicator Ashta could tell she was tearing up. "But, Gir's mah best friend!"

"Too bad! He can't come! Just meet me at the woods, and come as soon as possible!" Ashta then cut the connection, not wanting to hear Iva's sobs. She didn't want to admit it, but that little spazz-bot had started to grow on her.

After a few minutes Iva showed up. Ashta sighed heavily. The hard part would be telling Iva their real mission. The little robot settled herself on the ground and looked up at her expectantly, as if it were story time.

Iva, we are here on Earth for two different reasons. Do you know the first one?

"We's gonna make the planet OURS!" Iva squealed. Ashta raised an eyebrow. Well, that was one way of putting it.

"Yes, we are. But after that we have another mission, Iva. A very important one. This mission is so crucial it came directly from the Tallests themselves. Iva, you may not be very happy about this, but we have to kill Zim." Ashta paused, waiting for Iva to break out into a tantrum. But, no tantrum came.

"We's have to kill Zimmers?" She questioned slowly.

"Yes Iva."

"Oh, okay." Silence followed for a bit, until Iva spoke up again. "What's 'kill' mean?"

Ashta winced. This was going to take a while.

**A little while later…**

Ashta wrote on the tablet silently, while Iva drew happily using some paper and crayons she had pulled out of her head. Ashta kept running into a certain problem, though. Every time she got so far in a plot, her though process would freeze up, and she simply couldn't think of anything.

After several failed attempts at planning Ashta threw the tablet into a tree, frustrated at herself. Why couldn't she come up with anything? It was as if she didn't want to kill Zim! Ashta paused, nearly letting out a laugh at that. Of course she wanted to kill Zim! That little self-righteous prick was always yelling at her for something, bossing her around, or doing something to push her buttons! No, she just must not be thinking straight today.

Ashta looked up in the direction she threw the tablet, and sighed, realizing that it was long gone and probably broken now. She then turned towards the direction of the city. "Iva, come. We are going home. And remember, neither Zim nor Gir can know about our mission in the slightest. Okay?"

"Okie-Dokie!" Iva chirped, hopping up from the tree stump she had been using as a desk. Ashta merely shook her head disapprovingly and started walking.

**OhmyGawd, Ashta might have a conscience! (The keywords here are 'Ashta, might,' and 'conscience.')**

**So I'll try to write as often as I can. If you can't tell, I kinda have all my other fics in the backseat when compared to this story. OH! And a few months (or weeks, I can't remember) ago was the one year anniversary of "Liberty Lily", my first fic on here! :) Which reminds me, I need to work on the last chapter for that…**


	6. Chapter 6 Change Sucks

**Not much to say…READ!**

Ashta walked up to the door of Zim's base, hand outstretched and ready to open it. Suddenly, though, the door swung open so suddenly it was sheer miracle it was still on its hinges. (AN: That's the second time I've used that in a fanfiction! :D) Behind said door was a furious Gaz Membrane, and behind her was an equally angry Zim.

"Why the HELL weren't you at school?" Gaz snarled, flames in her (barely open) eyes.

Ashta opened her mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off by Gaz.

"I was stuck alone with short, green, and stupid over here, jumping through your little hoops and playing along with the circus act of our fake relationship!"

"YEAH!" Zim spoke, but then he suddenly realized what Gaz had just said. "How dare you call Zim short? I am much taller than I was when I first got here, and am as tall as a normal human worm-pig!"

Gaz snorted. "Yeah, but I'm used to referring to you as 'short, green and stupid.'"

"You mean you've used that phrase before?"

"Once or twice, yeah. But this isn't going to help us with the current problem." Gaz turned to once again face Ashta. "YOU have some explaining to do!"

"I went to the library, to study up a little more on human history, as I figured that I'd learn more doing that than going to school. You humans have a strangely bloody past, do you know that?" Ashta recited the excuse she'd practiced with ease. Gaz didn't seem satisfied, though.

"I don't care if you wanted learn or whatever, if we have to endure the torture of Skool, then so do you!"

"Yeah!" Zim added meekly. Gaz just glared at him, annoyed by his lack of anything to add to her argument.

"Fine, I'll go tomorrow. Geesh. Whatever. I'm going to watch TV now." Ashta pushed her way past Gaz and Zim, who were both still pissed.

"She'll pay." Gaz growled angrily.

"What are you planning on doing, Gaz-human?" Zim asked. Gaz glared at him.

"Nothing that involves you, so don't butt in. I'll think of some way to get back at her. But for now, I'm going home to play Vampire Piggies and take my anger out on Dib. Do me a favor and die while I'm gone, okay?" Gaz said, walking away from the open doorway and down the walk, towards her house.

!#$%^&*

When Gaz got home Dib was already there. So, naturally, she was bombarded with questions.

"Where were you? Are you okay? Why wasn't Ashta at Skool? Why-"

"Shut up before your head ends up in the oven." Gaz interrupted, annoyed by his questions. "I'm _fine,_ Dib. Obviously I'm okay, or I wouldn't be here, listening to your deafeningly annoying voice. I was at Zim's, waiting for Ashta to come back so we could ask her the exact same question. She was at the library, actually _learning. _I don't blame her. Much. So just drop it."

Dib stared at Gaz. Only one thing that Gaz had said had actually stuck in his head. "You were over at _Zim's?_ _**Alone?**_"

Gaz groaned. "Dear God, Dib! NOTHING happened! And no, we weren't 'alone'. Gir was being the annoyingly clingy little spazz he always is. There's no way we'd be able to get rid of him even if we wanted to!"

Dib raised an eyebrow. "Even if you wanted to?" he questioned.

_'Shit!'_ Gaz thought angrily. "Yes, Dib, unlike most of this planet we're not in a relationship just for making out and stuff like that. Ever thought maybe we could actually have an intellectual* conversation? Because Heaven knows that can't happen with the rest of this rock!" Gaz countered quickly, making stuff up as she went along.

Dib looked a little deflated, as if he almost expected Gaz to tell him that she was repulsed by Zim and never had actually been in a relationship. "Oh." Then he sighed. "Gaz, tell me this, why are you two going out, then? I honestly can't think of anything you and him have in common!"

'_Yeah, you and me both!' _Gaz thought angrily. However, her mouth started talking, as if automatically it knew the answer. "Because he's different from everyone else, Dib. And I don't just mean that he's an alien. He actually has a readable IQ _and_ common sense, two things most humans seem to be lacking these days. He's also kinda fun to be around once you get over the constant screaming and yelling." Gaz was surprised at what she had said, though she didn't show it. The first thing she thought was she had to leave before she slipped more crap like that. "Now, Dib, if you don't mind, I'm going to go to my room and think of ways to get Ashta back for sticking Zim and me alone at Skool. Bye." Gaz whipped herself around and headed up the staircase until she reached her room.

As she entered the eyes of her mechanical menaces followed her, the dolls and plushes ready to turn into deadly weapons of mass destruction if necessary. Gaz, however, paid them no attention. She had other things on her mind. Why had she said all those things about Zim? She didn't actually like him like that! Stupid Ashta, this was all her fault! If it weren't for that meddling Irken she wouldn't have to explain to Dib her non-existent relationship with Zim! Gaz furiously pulled out her Gameslave, hoping the sounds of flaming pigs being slaughtered would help calm her over-worked nerves.

Eventually, it did, and she was able to think straight. This was all just to annoy Dib, remember? To get back at him for being such an annoyance to her for so long. She didn't like Zim. She hated him, even. Nothing would change that. She hated change. She hated it even more than she hated Zim. It wasn't that she was afraid of change; she just didn't like things getting all screwy without her permission. Growling, Gaz grabbed the phone on her nightstand next to her bed. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be pissed at her, Gaz needed to call Ashta for something.

"Hello." Ashta's voice answered. In the background Gaz could hear Zim's protests.

_"Do not answer the phone of ZIM! This is my base, thus I should answer the phone! Now give it to me!"_

"IT'S NOT FOR YOU, ANYWAYS!" Ashta hollered at the temperamental Irken.

_"Zim does not care! Gimme!"_

"NO! Sorry about that, Gaz. What can I help you with?" Ashta asked over Zim's yelling.

"What I need help with involves the fog horn you're yelling over, actually." Gaz answered. She could almost feel Ashta's face curl into a grin.

"Really? What?"

"I want you to give him a swift kick in the shins and remind him that I still hate him."

"Will do!" Ashta said happily. Gaz smiled as she heard Zim's howl of pain and Ashta repeat her words.

Yeah, nothing was going to change is she had any say over it.

***The sad thing is, I didn't even spell intellectual right, and spell-check caught it for me. That just proves that I am not this.**

**I'm so sorry for not updating before, but I had MAJOR writer's block for this second half of this chapter. Gawd, I hate how I get writer's block every single damn chapter. Because then it feels like I'm just forcing this stuff. Anyways, I'm writing this on my laptop and I need to get off before it runs out of battery. Plus, Study Hall is over. Bye!**

**PS: If I make the characters act OOC, please tell me, I won't be offended! I want to make them as in-character as possible! :)**


	7. Chapter 7 History Homework

**Hey, before I start, I just want to let you know that I rewrote the first chapter and uploaded it. I expected it to give an update, but apparently not, so if you want to check out the rewritten first chapter, you know where to look.**

**Also, just a warning, this chapter might suck. I don't know. I really have no clue what I'm doing for this chapter, and am pretty much writing by ear. That could be a good thing or a very bad thing. Either way, what I'm trying to do is put things into Zim's perspective for this chapter.**

**So, enjoy! (or not...)**

Zim was startled awake by the sound of banging pots and pans. Immediately Zim shot up to the ground level as fast as he could to stop whatever mess Gir was getting himself into. However, instead of a spastic robot, he was met with an angry looking Irken.

"Good, you're up! Now get ready, Blorch-Rat-Fodder! We're going to be late!" Ashta shouted, placing the pots she had been banging together down on the nearby table top.

Zim groaned. "Insolent fool! Today is Saturday, humans do not go to school on this day!"

"Eh?" Ashta said, cocking her head to the side and resembling some twisted version of a confused puppy. "Saturday? What's so special about today that makes people not go to school?"

Zim laughed in a scoffing manner. "I thought that you knew everything about humans?"

Ashta hissed warningly, her face changed into a fierce look one might see on a savage jungle-cat. "There my be one or two things I overlooked. Other than that I can assure you my knowledge of this indigenous species is much better than yours!"

Zim shook his head in amusement. "This day and the day after, called Sunday are reserved as days of rest." He then looked at the time on the nearby microwave. 7:00 M. "However it seems any plans of rest have been slaughtered by you."

Ashta stuck her nose in the air, her arrogance getting the best of her. "I take pride in my work." she said simply.

Zim shook his head to clear the irritation this female was causing him. "I'm sure you do." he muttered to himself. It seemed it was loud enough for Ashta to hear, as she growled at him angrily. Zim, however walked back down to the elevator to his room. Once he was finished changing into his usual Standard-Issue Invader uniform, he went down to the lab, only to see Ashta staring intently at the screen, which was displaying some of his previously failed plans.

"HEY! Get out of here! Did Zim not tell you upon you're arrival that the lab is off-limits? Get outta here!"

Ashta barely even turned her head to glance at Zim as she spoke. "Our lab. Need I remind you that the computer listens to me now, too? I could change it back to it's previous settings..." Zim growled, and Ashta smirked patronizingly "I thought so." She then turned back to the plans. "You know, your arrogance is what causes you to fails so often. If you weren't so sure of yourself yet still had enough confidence to get the job done you would have a much better outcome. In short, you shouldn't underestimate your enemy, meaning Dib. He may be a human, but he has many resources that most others don't. Not to mention, like Gaz, he doesn't live in a completely oblivious state." she paused, and then said, "Gaz could prove to be even more useful if she would be willing to give information about Dib that we could use to our advantage."

Zim's antennae perked up slightly upon hearing this. "The Gaz-human is coming here again? Does she not have a place of her own?" he asked.

Ashta sighed, motioning with her hand for the screen to change to another set of plans. "No, she and her brother are meeting their dad on some far-off island. He apparently cured an epidemic there and they are attending a ceremony in his honor. They won't be back until Monday."

Zim shot Ashta a patronizing smirk. "Well, it seems that someone is learning their days of the week." Ashta returned the favor with a look of pure venom. Zim swallowed hard upon seeing the pure hatred in her face. He often wondered what was going on behind those icy eyes of hers, but he could not read her as easily as the humans he was surrounded by daily. It seemed like she had padlocked her past and let no one but her see the truth that lay within. He suspected whatever memories she had suppressed had something to do with that long scar that grazed her left eye. Whatever it was that caused her sudden mood-swings must be severely dark.

Zim shook off the darkness her gaze cast. "Well, if you're down here invading Zim's personal space I cannot work, so I will be upstairs watching TV with Gir and...what is your SIR's name again?"

"Iva." Ashta answered distantly, as she had once again returned to her work. "And of course I'm invading your personal space. I'm an Invader, it's what I do." Zim rolled his eyes at her lame attempt at humor and walked back up the elevator.

When he arrived in the living area he was surprised to not find the neurotic SIRs. He then shrugged, assuming they had probably had gone off somewhere together. He sat down on the couch, but instead of turning on the television, he simply sat there, thinking. When he heard that Gaz could maybe be coming over he had been irritated, which he had displayed, but he also felt something else. Dread, or maybe anticipation? No, it was definitely dread. Zim did not like or look forward to the company of anyone, let alone the abusive, angry, scary, and loud Gaz Membrane. Zim was just thinking this when the TV suddenly came to life, someone's face filling up the screen.

Zim jumped at first, but when he saw who's face it was he growled. Well speak of the devil...

"Hey, I've got an assignment for you, if your idiotic brain can handle it." She spoke, completely ignoring the common human ritual of greetings.

After getting over his initial shock Zim shouted at her. "How did you get on my television? And what makes you think you've got the right to order Zim around? I AM ZIM!"

Gaz sneered. "Yeah, duh, you're Zim. Stop announcing it like that's a good thing." Zim frown deepened. "And as for your questions, Ashta gave me a watch with a small camera on it so I could contact you guys at any time I needed to. And I have every right to order around beings that have less knowledge than me."

Zim growled lowly. "You are full of too much pride in yourself, little-Gaz. You are still a human, and therefore ignorant to many things. The only difference is you're less ignorant than your fellow man"

Gaz opened both of her eyes fully, which made Zim seize up with a slight ear. If he had learned anything, it was that one shouldn't fear Gaz when she was squinting, but when she had her eyes open it was a whole different story.

"Listen, you. Shut your mouth before you say something you'll _really_ regret. I may be miles away, but I'm still just as dangerous." She said in a low, chilling voice. Zim, against his better judgment, nodded slightly. This pleased Gaz, and her eyes returned to their normal stat. "Anyways, I was thinking you and Ashta should brush up on you're history. She had the right idea, going to the library, as you'll never actually learn anything in Skool. What you need to do is look up former dictators over the course of time. Pick out what you like and don't like about their reigns and see what caused their downfalls so you can prevent your own."

Zim's eyes widened with surprise. "That's...actually a good idea."

Gaz smirked. "What was that earlier about my intelligence?"

Zim scoffed. "You may be the smartest of your species, but Zim still stands by hat he said earlier."

Gaz shrugged. "Fair enough." She said. She then looked over her shoulder. "I've got to go,now. Dib should be back from sight-seeing soon and I don't want him walking in on me and you chatting it up."

"Alright. Goodbye, Gaz-human."

"Bye, dumbass." Zim growled as she logged off, smirking slightly.

**Holy -*insert long swear here*! I finished this chapter in one day, with little to no writer's block! o.O *fistpump!***

**I just want to say that I've found the perfect song for Ashta: Mercy by Sumo Cyco. I love that band and the song really fits her. Plus, the lead singer, Sever, is actually my favorite singer from her solo career as Skye Sweetnam.**

**Questions you should be asking yourself:**

**Is Zim catching on to what Ashta's planning?**

**Is Gaz starting to grow on Zim?**

**Vice-versa of #2.**

**Where are the Tallests?**

**Is Ashta growing soft?**

**How does Izie tie into any of this?**

**Until next time, my pretties. Until next time. :)**

**Also, don't forget, I rewrote chapter one if you wanna check it out.**

**BYEEEEE!**


	8. Chapter 8 Last Chance

**DO NOT expect updates to always be this quick. I just had a little hamster wheel running in my head faster than normal, thus this quick update. Enjoy your early update my lovelies! ;D**

"**We've got something we're all hiding, deep inside our minds and we can't seem to dig it out! We've all got those skeletons inside out closets, we've all got those things that nobody should know! The things will break you when people mistake you for criminals, culprits that don't have a soul!" ~Mercy by Sumo Cyco. That part seems to really sum up what Izie's thinking in this beginning part.**

Izie was marched onto the deck of the _Massive_ by two guards, one on each side of her. They approached the large window, where two tall figures stood. Reluctantly, Izie bowed along with the guards. Red turned to them, then nudged Purple, who also turned to face the visitors. "You may stand now." he spoke, and Izie rose with the guards, swallowing the venom that seemed to loom just on the tip of her tongue. _'Now is not the time to sass off.'_ she repeated over and over in her head, containing the negative thoughts overflowing her brain.

"My Tallests, we have brought to you the assassin whom you wanted to see." One of the drones spoke in his gruff voice.

"We can see that," Red said to the guard. "You both may step down. She's smart, so I highly doubt she'd try anything." Izie ground her teeth and clenched her fists, focusing on biting her tongue, staring at the ground. One might think it would be out of respect, but Izie didn't respect much of anything. In reality it was to keep her from flying into a total rage.

"So, Izie, we wanted to congratulate you on your latest mission. You do a great service to your empire, taking care of those runaway defectives. That's why you're our right hand assassin. Are you proud of your actions?"

Izie ignored the roaring in her mind. Every fiber of her being told her to spit on Red, to rebel, to do _something_ instead of just standing there! Instead she looked up at Red, smiled sweetly, and said, "Yes, my Tallest."

Both leaders seemed pleased by her compliance. The last thing they needed was a highly armed and trained assassin. 'Good. Tell me, would you be willing to do anything for your empire if we wished it?"

Izie was surprised that she wasn't shaking from the self-control she was showing. She wished she could grab the nearest thing and kill both of them. She knew how to make almost anything into a deadly weapon. Or maybe if she could get a hold of one of the guards' weapons... Instead she just continued to stare at Red, and said, "Yes, my Tallest."

Red nodded, content with her answer. "That is all. You may go the way you came."

Izie bowed again. "Yes, my Tallests." She turned around without hesitating, wanting to get out of the presence of her leaders as soon as possible.

Once she had left, Purple turned to Red. "What was all that about?"

Red looked back at Purple. "I wanted to make sure she was still loyal. I'm worried about Ashta, as she hasn't communicated us in a while. If it turns out she isn't as loyal as we thought when we sent her, I figure we could send Izie to finish what we started."

Purple stared at his companion. "You think that she might turn on us?"

Red looked out the window. "I'm not sure, it's just a suspicion. Hopefully though, it will be laid to rest."

Purple gave his fellow Tallest a confused look. "How?"

"We're going to test her."

**!#$%**

Ashta stood before the screen, a little fearful, but of course not showing it. She knew she should have called the Tallests before, but now they were summoning her, which was almost always bad news.

Red stared down at Ashta, making her feel small, even though they were separated by light-years of distance. "Ashta, we expected you to communicate us much earlier than this." he said, disappointment clear in his voice. Ashta winced. "Have you made any progress?"

Ashta steadied herself so her voice didn't sound weak and scared. "Well, my Tallests, we figured that first we must-" she was, however, cut off before she could finish.

"Have you or have you not made progress? It is a simple yes or no question, Assassin." Red spoke, his voice commanding. Ashta's lip quivered a little.

"No, my Tallests."

"You promised us this would be an easy mission, Ashta."

"Yes, but, that was before I researched the planet! They're very strange, these humans! Instead of uniting the planet, they've broken it up by land masses, each governed differently, with different languages, customs, and ideas on rights! To take control of such a complex planet-"

"I thought humans were supposed to be simple minded?" Surprisingly this time it was Purple who interrupted, though it was mostly curiosity on his part.

"Yes, but-"

"Enough excuses, Assassin Ashta! If you cannot complete your mission we will simply have you terminated!" Red interjected, his face cold.

All the blood in Ashta's face drained. She went pale, the scar on her face standing out easily. "No, my Tallests, I-!"

"Will be given one last chance to prove yourself." Red finished her sentence for her. "You have one last chance at redemption before we change our minds."

Some color returned to Ashta's pale face. "Th-Thank you my Tallests! I will do anything!"

"Good." Red said. "Forget about conquering the planet, as it is of no need to the Empire. Simply finish your main task."

Ashta's breath caught in her throat. Her main task? "You mean...?"

"Kill Zim." Red answered. He then looked Ashta in the eye, red locking with blue. "You have one Earth week."

With that, the transmission ended.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Yep. I seriously cut the chapter off there. I. Am. EVIL! :D**

**In case you are wondering what the case with Izie is, and why the Tallests told Ashta she was still just a trainee, it's that they don't know it's the same Izie. In an Empire as big as the Irken Empire, imagine how many times names must be reused! Yeah...I'd get confused, too. And of course for protection reasons assassins aren't labeled as such, and are simply known to the public as their previous PAK assignments, which in Izie's case was trainee.**

**Well, Meghan, did you like how I wrote Izie? (Again.) Like I said before, Izie belongs to my co-writer, Invader Riyo on fanfiction, aka Meghan.**


	9. Chapter 9 DizzyHead

**I don't have much to say aside from the fact that I actually had this typed up and written YESTERDAY. That's right, I wrote two chapters in one day. I'm not sure what happened to make me go from updating once a month to being AHEAD in my writing, but why question it? ONWARD!**

It was a day after the Tallests had contacted Ashta. They had called on Sunday, so it was now Monday, after Skool. And since Gaz was back, Ashta found herself sitting on the floor of Zim's living room with History books spread in every which way.

"You said we'd be studying past rulers! So why must Zim study about these so-called Enlightenment-thinkers, too?" Zim whined to Gaz, who proceeded to whack him in the head with a particularly thick book.

"Because, _genius_, most rulers based their reigns on what these people said and wrote, and we need to know what sort of approach to take with Earth. For example," she picked up the same book she had hit him with, and opened it up to a page in the middle. "This man, Locke, thought that people were mostly good beings and deserved lots of rights."

Zim snorted. "Fool."

Gaz nodded her head in agreement. "I know, but his ideas are some of the ones that are most commonly accepted today. The approach _I _think we should take is this man's. His name was Hobbes, and he thought people were evil beings who needed strict rules to keep them in line."

Zim nodded, rubbing his chin in thought. "This sounds like a much better idea to Zim." He then turned to Ashta. "Ashta-beast, what do you think?"

Ashta was startled out of her thoughts upon hearing her name. She didn't know the answer, and frankly why should she care? It wasn't her job to bring doom to this planet anymore! But, she realized she must keep her cover, and to do so, she must seem interested by the current conversation.

"Personally, while I support the Hobbes idea, I think most people would turn away from that approach, so maybe if we pretended like we were focused on their individual rights and brainwashed them into thinking so, while at the same time regulating them as Hobbes says it would be best for everyone." Ashta reasoned.

Gaz nodded her head. "She's right, most humans, me included, prefer freedom for themselves as opposed to laws, even if said laws are designed to protect them. Good idea. We'll have to keep that in mind."

"Zim could have worked that out..." Zim muttered, turning his head towards a book. Ashta found it almost laughable, his attempt to save face after she had completely shown him up. She quickly turned her thoughts back to what they had previously been focused on, though, and that was killing Zim.

She wasn't sure if Red meant she had a week starting the next day, or a week starting the day of their conversation, but she decided to play it safe and assume she only had six days left. She wasn't sure what kind of approach to take. Should she just slit his throat one night while he was sleeping? No, that seemed too shallow. Shooting him at point blank was an option, but he seemed to always have his guard up, something he'd undoubtedly picked up through his years of fighting Dib. Dib. Maybe he could help her? She doubted this, though. Even though Dib _did_ hate Zim with every fiber in his being, Gaz was supposedly dating him, and she doubted Dib would do something so devious as to kill his sister's alleged boyfriend. And Gaz was probably out of the question. Even though she was mean, she wasn't completely heartless.

That made Ashta's train of thought come to a screeching halt. Was _she_ heartless for doing this? For turning her back on Zim after mostly gaining his trust? To (maybe literally) stab him in the back so suddenly?

_'No!'_ she reminded herself sternly. She was NOT heartless! She was merely doing her job and duty to the Empire! It was her role to scratch off the defects, and Zim was a defect! What made him different from the countless others she's killed? She'd done this multiple times before! She'd even killed innocent smeets if the Tallests wished it! And the Tallests wished Zim dead, now. They had for a while, actually. He was just another name on her increasingly long hit-list.

A list that never stopped getting longer...

Ashta shook her head to free her mind of the clouding thoughts. She excused herself from the others, claiming that she had a headache and went to her room where she lay on her bed, trying to free her mind from the over-active thoughts skittering around in her brain. Eventually she fell asleep, her dreams filled with blood and a forever-state of being confused.

**!#$%**

Ashta woke sometime in the middle of the night. The stars were glittering outside her window, and the sky was an inky-black. She looked around and noticed IVA had crawled onto the edge of her bed, curled up like one might find a real cat.

Ashta would have found this amusing if she didn't have a particularly strong headache splitting her skull open, which was a side effect of falling asleep while still being so confused.

In her pain Ashta sorted her thoughts out. Why on Irk did she become so suddenly confused? It was clear to her now that she was doing the right thing by following her orders. It was what was best for everyone. For the Empire, and for her, as it would rid her of the annoyance that was the scarlet-eyed defect.

Ashta smiled upon her sudden realization, but winced when the facial movement reminded her of the head-pain she was experiencing. She simply placed her head on the pillow, going back to sleep, this time with no dreams to disrupt her.

**Wow. Filler-chapter if I've ever written one. BAD HAMSTERS! You're supposed to make me write GOOD things faster! Not filler-crap! Eh, well. Hopefully I can continue this streak of quick updates. But now, I must work on History homework. :(**

**(And yes, the part about enlightenment-thinkers is what we're studying in History. Seriously, all could think about during that lesson was how much Hobbes reminded me of Zim. o.O)**

**Also, I wanted to let you know that I am not revealing the ending to anyone. Even my co-writer, Invader Riyo, is in the dark. Trust me, she kept bugging me about it today at school. -.- **

**I'll try to update ASAP, depending on when I finish the next chapter (I got half of it done at school today). It will probably be tomorrow or the day after. ;)**


	10. Chapter 10 Revenge and Evesdropping

**TENTH CHAPTER! ^^ *wacks a pinata***

**Pinata: Ow!**

**At first I wasn't sure what to write, and all I knew was that I needed a scene between Zim and Gaz. Then I realized that I'd actually (an unintentionally) backed myself into a corner that I HAD to write. What am I talking about? Ashta left the room, thus leaving Zim and Gaz together. There had to have been _some_ dialogue.**

**Pinata: I'm still in a lot of pain...**

**Shut up, Pinata.**

**Apology at the end. :(**

**Anyways, enjoy! :)**

Everyone was sitting on the floor looking over the many history books thrown around the room when Ashta sat up suddenly, clutching her head. "I have a headache, and require rest. Continue studying on your own." she said stiffly before fleeing the room. Gaz eyed where she had been sitting, slightly confused.

"Well...that was random..." she said. Zim shrugged.

"The Ashta-creature is crazy. Zim has found it best to not question the many strange things she does." he said, not bothering to look up from his book about the rulers of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Gaz turned to Zim, a look of disbelief on her face. "No way...YOU'RE calling HER weird? You, who just last week had an incident with exploding hamsters?"

Zim waved his hand nonchalantly, his face still buried in the book. "Setting fire to the pitiful Earth-rodents was necessary to Zim's genius plan." he said, his voice slightly muffled by the pages.

Gaz frowned. "You're so self-centered."

"And you're mean." Zim said, looking up slightly from his book.

"You're too over-confident." Gaz returned, her eyes narrowing.

"You're a bully!" Zim responded, setting his book down.

"You have an ego the size of Alaska!"

"You rely too much on sarcasm!"

"You're an idiot!"

"You're a pathetic human!"

"You boast too much!"

"You're too pessimistic!"

These two fought for about an hour, until it started getting dark out. Gaz was lying on the couch, pretty much drained of all energy, and Zim was on the floor, also too tired to move. They stared at the ceiling for a while before both saying, "I hate you." and falling asleep.

**!#$%**

It was morning when Ashta walked out of her room. She headed for the kitchen, ready to start making breakfast, when she passed the living room and saw Zim and Gaz both sleeping, Gaz on the sofa, and Zim sprawled out on the floor.

"Did I miss something?" She muttered to herself, before picking up one of the nearby history books. She raised it far above head, then slammed it onto the ground as hard as she could, startling awake both Zim and Gaz.

"YOU'RE UGLY!" Zim shouted, jumping awake, and Gaz shouted, "YOU HAVE NO NOSE!" sitting up straight. Apparently they both thought they were still arguing. Gaz looked around, noticing where she was and what time it was before muttering, "_Shit_."

"What is the Gaz-beast doing sleeping in Zim's base?" Zim shouted, now fully awake.

Gaz glared at him. "We fell asleep arguing, remember, moron?" she then put her head in her hands and exhaled deeply. "This is _not _gonna go over well with Dib. Me, spending the night at his arch-enemy's house, who is, according to rumor, my boyfriend? Not good at all." She looked up. "I don't know about you guys, but I can't deal with the big scene he'll make of this. I'm gonna play hooky."

Zim's antennae perked up, confused. "What does playing hockey have to do with the noise that comes out of your brother's mouth nonstop?"

Ashta rolled her eyes. "She said _hooky_, Zim, not hockey. It's human slang for skipping Skool." She then turned to Gaz and shrugged. "I'm all for it, I guess."

"Is this...'hooky' common with human teens?" Zim asked, making air quotes with his fingers..

Gaz shrugged. "Most humans have done it at least once. No one really _wants_ to go to Skool."

"YES! Then I will play 'hooky' to seem normal!"

Ashta rolled her eyes. "Whatever. In that case, I'm going back to sleep. You two can do whatever the hell you want. Just make sure Iva and Gir stay out of the kitchen. Who knows what they could blow up?"* and with that Ashta walked out of the room, leaving Zim and Gaz alone yet again.

Gaz turned to Zim. "For the record, if Dib comes to tear you apart limb from limb, it's your fault."

Zim scowled. "How is this Zim's fault? YOU started the argument!"

"Yeah, but if you would have let me win, I could have gone home before I crashed on your couch." Gaz pointed out.

"Zim loses to no one! Especially not a human!"

"Sure." Gaz said, rolling her eyes and standing up. "I'm going to get breakfast, then. What do you guys even have around here?"

"We have freezer waffles."

Gaz raised an eyebrow. "Freezer waffles? Why?"

"So Gir doesn't have an excuse to attempt to cook them." Zim said simply, getting up and starting to stack up all the books into a neat pile.

Gaz shrugged. "As long as it's edible." She wandered into the kitchen, only to see Gir sitting behind the wall next to the doorway, and grinning madly. Gaz raised an eyebrow. "What's got you looking like a happy version of The Joker?"

"I found my moose!" he shouted, showing her a rubber squeaky moose.

Gaz shook her head at him. "You're brain must be seriously fucked up." she said, walking past him and to the fridge. She pulled some waffles out of the freezer and put them in the toaster. She leaned against the counter, and then Gir caught her eye again. He was staring at her, and it was frankly creeping her out. "You're not gonna leave, are you?" she asked, irritated.

"NOPE!" Gir said happily. Gaz rolled her eyes. After seemed like forever the toaster popped.

"Finally!" Gaz sighed, grabbing her waffles and not bothering with a plate or syrup. She frankly liked them better plain. She ignored Gir's protests of "not cooking the waffles right" and walked back into the living room. Once there she bent down and started to help Zim pick up the books, using one hand, since the other was busy holding her waffle.

Zim looked at her, confused. "Why are you helping Zim?" he asked.

Gaz shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do. I finished my video game, and unfortunately the new game doesn't come out for a while." Suddenly, her eyes grew dark and threatening. "If Dib does ANYTHING to stop me from getting that game he will pay with his life." she growled. Her eyes suddenly went back to normal. "So, what are your plans for today?"

"Oh, not much. Zim was planning on using this day to think of plans for world domination, but now I think it might be better as a day of relaxation." Zim responded. Gaz nodded. For a while no one said anything to each other, and only the sounds of books being picked up and stacked could be heard.

Finally, Zim broke the silence. "I enjoyed our argument earlier. Most of the time people give up against Zim's persistence, but you kept arguing."

Gaz shrugged. "I hate to lose, and when I start something I need to finish it. I have the same mentality for video games."

Zim looked deep in thought, his hand propping up his chin. Holding a big History book, one who didn't know better may think Zim looked almost intellectual. Of course, this was not this case. "Zim did not know lessons learned in video games could be used in the everyday life of a human." he said, looking at Gaz. She snorted, a mixture between mild laughter and scoffing. (Or, at least as close to 'mild laughter' as one could get for Gaz.)

"They can if the one playing has the brains to figure them out. Unfortunately, brains are not a common thing nowadays." she said as she placed another book on top of the growing stack. "To be fair, though, in that argument, you were a worthy opponent. Usually people break too easily."

Zim laughed. "I'll have to remember that, next time I feel the need to argue with someone." Gaz smirked. She didn't know why, but she felt kind of good with the fact that her and Zim were actually seeming to get along, for once.

Gaz mentally scolded herself. This was change, and such change was not authorized by her. She and Zim were frenamies, and only that at best! Nothing was going to change that! Ever! Gaz reassured herself with her own doubts as she continued to stack books.

!#$%

*Later that night Ashta was once again in front of the big screen, summoned by the Tallests. She was terrified. They were obviously not pleased with her. It had been a two whole days in her week-long time-limit, and she had no results at all.

"Ashta, I am sure you know why we are calling." Red said, looking down at Ashta as if she were disgusting him. She whimpered, as she was used to the Tallest _praising_ her for doing well on her missions.

"Y-Yes, my Tallests. I am aware that I am yet to show results for my efforts here on Earth." she said. "I know how displeased you are with me-"

"Displeased doesn't begin to cover it, Ashta." Red interrupted her. "You were once our greatest assassin, and now you don't seem capable of killing Zim of all people! We are not _displeased_, Ashta, we are _disappointed_ in your actions." Ashta cringed. "We stand by our one-week time-limit. If by that time you have still failed to follow your orders and relive us of the annoyance that is Zim, we will be sending an assassin after **you**! You have five more days, Ashta."

With that, he cut the transmission suddenly. Ashta stared ahead for a while, until she finally broke down, with tears streaming down her face. She didn't want to lose her honor, her leaders' trust, and her confidence, but all of that seemed to be falling apart around her. Why did it seem so hard? This should be an easy assignment! Like Red had said, it was Zim of all people! Suddenly Ashta got angry. _Zim._ It was all _his _fault her life was crumbling to pieces! She dried her tears with her arm, a new determination in her eyes.

She was going to make Zim pay for what he had unknowingly taken from her. He would feel every bit of pain that _she_ had felt. He would see his world fall to pieces while his life slipped away from him. He would know the true meaning of anger and humiliation. With these thoughts flooding Ashta's mind she hissed just three words through her clenched teeth.

"Zim. Will. _DIE!"_

What Ashta wasn't aware of, though, that there was someone else in the room. From the shadows someone had been watching intently, hearing every word both she and the Tallests had said. They knew of her secret.

**You hate me, don't you. :( I promised an earlier update, but then I was blind-sighted by a spurt of unforeseen writer's block. I won't tell you what time to expect next chapter, for fear of not being on time, but I CAN tell you what to expect in it:**

**A ZaGr Moment!**

**Action!**

**An angry Dib!**

**Lots of pointless dialogue (like normal)!**

**And who was watching Ashta will be revealed! Hint: They so far have not been in this story.**

***This is a reference to the original version of this fic that I had. In it, when Gaz first came over Gir and Iva blew up the kitchen. In case you're wondering, I had this story in development for MONTHS, and had a good few chapters written when I decided to give it more depth and character development. I pretty much scrapped all of what I had and rewrote it by ear. Believe it or not, but in VERY early development (and I mean VERY VERY early) Ashta wasn't even a character. The story pretty much had no plot and was centered around Iva and Gir. Then I later added Ashta and the ZaGr-theme. Then I gave Ashta some development and a deeper plot, and viola, this is what I have. Somewhere I still have the old notebook with the original written in it...Oh well, I'm rambling again. -.-**

****I was listening to a hard-metal Vocaloid/Utauloid song when I wrote this part, to help me get into an angry-ish state. If you don't know what Vocaloid or Utauloid is, look it up, as I'm too lazy to explain it here. If you DO know, the song was "Alive" by Miku Hatsune and Teto Kasane. It's a spin-off of another Vocaloid song by Miku called "Blaze."**


	11. Chapter 11 The Truth

**Hooray for the next chapter! ^^ Sadly, this story is coming to a close. I think this might be about the second to last chapter. T.T Then I hand all power over to Invader Riyo on fanfiction, who is my co writer. She'll be the author of the next story. Her writing styles may be a little different than mine, so remember to keep an open mind when you move on to her!**

**Also, this is a random thought, but am I the only one who thinks Mini-Moose's squeaks sound more like "nya" that "squeak"?**

Gaz headed home from Zim's around 2:30. She got to her house around 2:40, giving her 20 minutes to change clothes, freshen up, and think of excuses to tell Dib before he got home. Around 3:10 Dib ran into the house approximately at the speed of light.

"Gaz? Gaz, where are you?" he shouted, looking around wildly. From the couch, Gaz cringed at how loud his voice was.

"I'm right here Dib, geez." she said, not looking up from the TV.

"Gaz! There you are! I was so worried!" Dib sighed, relieved that his sister was safe and sound. Quickly, though, that changed. "Where were you? I was looking all over last night when you didn't come home! And when you didn't come to school I started to panic!"

Gaz snorted. "I wasn't anywhere you should worry your ginormous head about. I'm perfectly fine, and that's all that matters."

Dib's frown deepened. "No, that's not all that matters! What if you _had_ been hurt? I need to know where you're going to be! For all I know you were out drinking or something!"

Gaz rolled her eyes. "I was not out drinking or anything like that. I was with some friends."

This didn't fool Dib for a second. "You and I both know you don't have any friends! You refuse to make any because no one is smart enough for you! You said all the people at our school are slobbering idiots who should choke on their own lungs!"

"Did I, now?" Gaz asked.

"Gaz!"

"I have plenty of friends that you don't know about, Dib. Believe it or not I'm not going to tell you everything about my life. I have secrets just as much as the next girl. Now, don't bother me, I'm watching TV."

Dib was getting really angry by now. "You're going to tell me where you went right now!" he demanded.

"No, I'm not." Gaz responded, raking her fingers through her violet hair.

"Yes, you are!" Dib growled, getting frustrated with his sister.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes!"  
"No."

"Yes!"

"Dib, I can keep my secret if I want to. Just drop it." she growled, clenching her fists.

"I'm not going to drop this." Dib muttered, going up the stairs and up to his room. Gaz sighed.

"I'm sure you won't."

**!#$**

The next day, after school, Gaz was once again at Zim's house. Instead of doing anything productive, however, they were both simply sitting limply on the couch. Eventually, Gaz broke the silence.

"Where the hell is Ashta? She's usually the planner in these situations!" Gaz shifted her position slightly, hoping to get more comfortable.

Zim shrugged. "The Ashta-beast has been spending more time in her room than normally." he said simply. Gaz rolled her eyes.

"Gee, you don't think something might be _wrong _with her, do you? Let me guess-it's not your job to worry about her, so you choose not to?"

Zim paused for a second, considering Gaz's retort. Then he nodded. "Correct. It is not Zim's job to babysit the Ashta-creature. Even if she were in any sort of trouble Zim would not need to nor want to know."

"So, basically, ignorance is bliss?"

"Yes."

"You're an idiot."

Zim opened his mouth, about to respond to Gaz's harsh comment when something across the room caught his eye. Gaz noticed this. "What are you-" she began, only to be cut off by Zim.

"Mini-Moose! What are you doing here? I though I put you in storage!"

"Mini-Moose? What the hell is a Mini-Moose?" Gaz asked. The small, purple floating moose hoovered out of the corner and over to it's master. "Oh, that's a Mini-Moose."

Zim stuck his nose(-er, where a nose should be) in the air. "Mini-Moose is a highly advanced piece of machinery. He is a much better minion than Gir, and he has weapons in his nubs. NUBS OF DOOM!"

Gaz considered this for a moment, before realizing something. "Wait, if he's so advanced and he's such a good minion, why did you put him in storage?"

Zim pouted slightly. "Zim could not figure out how to use the nubs of doom."

..."You're kidding, right?"

"ZIM DOES NOT JOKE!"

Gaz sighed. "That's just pathetic."

"Nya!" Mini-Moose interrupted the about-to-be argument.

"Did it just squeak?" Gaz began, only to be interrupted by Zim.

"SILENCE, pathetic human! He says he has something important to tell Zim!"

"Nya." Mini-Moose continued. Gaz just looked confused.

"Translation, please?"

"He said that we must talk somewhere in private." Zim informed Gaz. Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm not letting you go off somewhere to talk to one of your minions and not let me know what you're talking about!" she said stubbornly.

"WHAT? You dare question Zim? I-"

"Nya."

"Eh? She can?" Zim turned to Gaz. "He said you can come too, but Ashta cannot."

Gaz shrugged. "Oddly specific, but whatever."

"We shall go to the lab, then!" Zim announced proudly. Gaz face-palmed.

"Not so loud, dumbass."

"Eh? Oh, right. Silence, human!"

..."Just move."

A bit later Gaz and Zim stood before Mini-Moose, waiting for him to start talking again.

"Nya, nya. Nya nya nya."

Zim jaw dropped. "Are you certain? Gir's malfunctioning hasn't gotten to you, has it?"

"Nya."

"WHAT DID HE SAY?" Gaz screamed at the two alien beings, causing Zim to jump.

Once he had gained his composure back, Zim answered her. "Mini-Moose said he had caught Ashta secretly communicating with the Tallests."

"The Tallests, those are your rulers, right?" Gaz interrupted.

Zim nodded. "Correct. Anyways, he said they were discussing a secret mission they had assigned her. It seems she was never banished at all. She is really here to carry out a request straight from the Tallests themselves."

"What is it? What do they want so badly that they kept it secret from you and brought her all the way over here?" Gaz asked.

Zim gulped. "They want me dead."

Gaz felt like someone had hit her in the face with an iron frying pan. Why in the world would they want Zim dead? Aside from being incredibly annoying she couldn't think of something he's done to directly piss his leaders off. "What? Why do they want you dead?"

Zim looked Gaz in her eyes. "Zim has been screwing things up almost his entire life. I ruined Operation Impending Doom One when I went over-the-edge and almost destroyed my entire planet.

"Earlier than that, though, when Zim was an ingenious scientist, he created an infinite energy blob. This seemed like a good idea until it broke free, and killed the current Tallest at the time, Tallest Miyuki. Later, after Miyuki had been replaced with Tallest Spork, the blob came back and killed him, too. Zim was banished to Foodcourtia after Operation Impending Doom One and was forced to work in the Irken fast food business.

"Once I heard about Operation Impending Doom Two, though, I escaped and appeared in front of the Tallest to personally ask for a mission. They assigned me to Earth. I was always so proud that they had selected me to go to such a far-off and obviously dangerous planet on my own, because I thought it showed they had a certain respect for Zim. I guess, though, that respect had run out."

Gaz stared at the alien in front of her, who seemed to be a shell of his former self. If she showed emotion, Gaz would have had her jaw open. She didn't know why, but she hated to see Zim like this. It just wasn't him! He was annoying, loud, overly sure of himself, and oblivious to details. This Zim was broken, depressed, and doubtful of everything he had previously known. Gaz hated it. This self-pity was making her sick!

Gaz returned Zim's stare, with fire in her amber eyes. "Well, those so-called leaders of yours are more idiotic than you are, then!"

"Eh?" Zim asked, tilting his head slightly.

Gaz snarled, signifying to Zim that he should shut his mouth. "If they sent Ashta here to take you down, they obviously thought that you would go down without a fight. Well, surprise, surprise, because you are not! You will go down kicking and screaming and I'll be there biting and punching, fighting with you!"

Zim blinked. "Gaz-human, I'm not sure I follow..."

Gaz grabbed Zim's collar. "Are you so stupid you can't understand a word I'm saying? **We're going to fight Ashta! **We have the element of surprise, so it should be easy. It's two against one!"

Zim wasn't sure what exactly was going on. "Why are you helping Zim? You hate me."

Gaz growled. "You self-pity is annoying. It's even more annoying than your normal-self, okay?"

"Um...okay?" Zim answered, unsure how to answer the frightening female who had him in her clutches.

Gaz released Zim's collar. "Good."

**!#$%**

It was night time. Ashta sat in her room, running her fingers over the favored blade of Mr. Cuts. She was going to rid herself of Zim tonight, it was decided.

She would do a classic throat slit. Sure, it wasn't very honorable, but she figured Zim didn't deserve any shred of honor she could give. She was far beyond the point of merciful. Zim had done too much damage to her reputation as an assassin to deserve any bit of respect from her.

Ashta rose, the blade dangling limply from her hand. She left the room, unaware of the small floating creature hiding in the corner of her room. She didn't bother shutting the door. That would just make sound, and at this point she couldn't afford to take any chances.

Her steps were light as she approached the trashcan. On her way down she could hear the mechanical hum of the elevator. This became the background music to her thoughts.

What would she do to that annoying SIR unit Zim kept hiding around? She could give it to Iva as a friend to play with, but she suspected it would be too loyal to Zim to trust. Plus, she hadn't planned on keeping Iva either way. She was just given to Ashta by the Tallests to help aide in her mission. Her child-like annoyances were designed to deceive Zim's SIR, so that he might give her secrets. Iva had proven to be a waste, though, so there was no point in prolonging her existence.

Ashta's thoughts were broken by a heavy thud from the elevator. She'd arrived at her destination. She creeped out into Zim's room. She was just approaching the bed when someone tackled her from behind. Ashta let out a shout of surprise. How did he know she was coming? Pushing her thoughts aside, She swung her knife blindly behind her.

It struck the attacker, and Ashta felt a small trickle of blood fall onto her hand. The attacker, instead of crying out, let out a ferocious growl. This growl was feminine, though, and not something that would be heard from an Irken.

_'What is going on?' _Ashta wondered, as the attacker detached herself from confused Irken. Suddenly her legs were kicked out from underneath her. Ashta fell to the floor hard, pain echoing in her jaw. Ignoring the pain, Ashta pushed herself up with a grunt. She silently cursed herself for not turning on a light. Then Ashta remembered that the computer obeyed _her_ now, too. That was the reason that the house had never snitched her out to Zim.

"Computer, turn on the lights!" The lights flipped on in a second. This dazed the attacker, but not Ashta, as she had superior sight. She gasped upon seeing who her attacker was. "Gaz? What are you doing? Why are you trying to stop my progress?"

Gaz was still blinking the spots out of her eyes, which were caused by the sudden exposure to light. Through her teeth, Gaz hissed, "You bitch!"

Suddenly, Ashta felt a something hit her head, _hard._ Darkness was starting to swallow her vision. From behind she could hear cackling laughter. Laughter that she knew well. The last thing she saw before everything faded to black was the face of the person she hated the most in the world.

It was at that moment Ashta knew she was going to die.

**I'M PURE EVIL! I ENDED THE CHAPTER THERE! *dodges someone's flying boot* Do not try to kill me yet! I will make it worth-while next chapter! I promise!**

**Speaking of next chapter, I'm pretty sure next chapter will be the last chapter.**

**So, next chapter hopefully all your questions (for this fic) will be answered! If not, they will probably be answered in the next story, The Feared One, by Invader Riyo (Meghan).**


	12. Chapter 12 Against the Programming

"**Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure..." GlaDOS – Want You Gone, Portal 2**

**In case you're wondering, I've been planning on using that quote for the last chapter for a while, now.**

**I won't delay you any more. Presenting to you, the last chapter of The Innocent Spy:**

Zim and Gaz tied an unconscious Ashta to a chair. They were a sort of storage room somewhere in the maze of Zim's base. Just as she was tying the last knot, Gaz spoke. "You know, I think I like her better unconscious," she said. "She's easier to deal with."

Zim eyed Gaz cautiously. "Zim thought that you and the Ashta-filth were friends? How come you have turned on her so suddenly?"

Gaz glanced at Zim with a look that clearly said, "You're joking, right?" "Are you kidding me? She was going to kill you! I don't want to be friends with people who back-stab my other friends!"

Zim's eyes widened with surprise. "You consider Zim a friend?"

Gaz's face hardened. "I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did." Zim pointed out.

Gaz growled, signaling the end of the conversation. "Let's just wake Ashta up, shall we?" she said, pulling the last knot tight and picking up Ashta's strange knife from the ground next to her.

**!#$%**

Everything was black. Ashta wondered if she was dead yet. If this was the case, she decided death was pretty boring. Just as she was contemplating what she should do in a seemingly pit of nothingness, Ashta heard voices. She groaned. Even in death she had to deal with idiots? Screw the saying "Life's not fair," apparently death isn't, either!

"...up..."

Ashta could make sense of one word one of the voices was saying. She chose to ignore it. Maybe the voices would be smart enough to leave her alone.

"...useless..."

She scowled. The voices were taunting her, now?

"...get up..."

Apparently the voices wanted her attention. Too bad Ashta wasn't feeling social.

"...wake..."

What did they mean wake? She was dead! It wasn't like she she could change that!

"...Ashta...wake up...now!..."

The voices were delusional. Or maybe she was delusional for hearing the voices? Either way they were idiotic.

"...have it your way!..."

Ashta felt a sharp pain to her face, as if someone had punched her in the jaw. What the hell? If she was dead, she shouldn't be able to feel pain!

"...will...get up now?..."

It was then common sense reunited with Ashta. She wasn't dead, she had just been knocked out! The voices were the people who had taken her down. Snarling, Ashta lifted her heavy eyelids to come face to face with Gaz and Zim.

"Morning, Sunshine." Gaz taunted. Ashta noticed a gash on her face where her blade had previously struck. The gash wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but enough that it would take a while to heal. In other words, Gaz was pretty much unharmed. Ashta growled. If her mouth wasn't so dry she would spit on her. "I'm not going to dance around and sugar coat anything. You're a back stabbing bitch who was sent to kill Zim. We'll give you about ten minutes to explain yourself before we take matters into our own hands." Gaz smirked. "I've been itching to try out that strange knife of yours."

Ashta looked around. She was restrained in a chair somewhere under Zim's base. In front of her stood Zim and Gaz. Gaz was playing with Mr. Cuts, twirling it like a baton, throwing it into the air, and then catching it. To see someone else touch her beloved knife nearly sent Ashta into a rage.

"I don't owe you anything, especially an explanation!" Ashta shouted, her voice slightly horse-sounding.

Gaz shook her head, and clicked her tongue against her teeth, like she were scolding a child. "That's not a good answer, Ashie." She held up Mr. Cuts in a threatening position. "You don't want any accidents to to happen with this, do you?

"You can cut and torture me all you want, I'm not going to talk to either of you!" Ashta scoffed Gaz's attempt to threaten her. Gaz chuckled.

"I wasn't talking about harming _you_." she said playfully. She danced over to the corner of the room, and returned with a jug of some type of alien acid. "Mr. Cuts will pay for his master's crimes."

Gaz opened the jug, and touched the very tip of the blade to the surface of the contained liquid. A sickening hiss occurred, and instantly the room smelled like something was burning. Gaz removed the knife and showed her handiwork. A tiny bit of the knife's end was completely gone, dissolved forever in the toxic solution.

The missing part would be microscopic to anyone else, but to Ashta, the slight destruction of her most prized possession was incredibly noticeable. She let out a small cry of pain, seeing the only thing she had ever kept steady being taken from her. In the hell that was her current life, the knife was all she had control over anymore. And now they were destroying it! Gaz's smile widened.

"I knew that would get a response from you. Now, talk, or the rest of it goes in." Gas kept her hand steady above the jug, Mr. Cuts hanging dangerously close to the deadly acid.

Ashta looked at Gaz with a severe hatred in her eyes. "Fine!" she spat, her voice seemingly laced with toxin. "I'll tell you. I came here because the Tallests told me to. I was always their best assassin. They could depend on my for everything. I was the perfect servant. Then, one day, I was doing some snooping, and I found out that there is someone who shares part of the DNA I was cloned from. In human terms, a half-sister, named Izie.

"I tried to research her, but all her records said was that she was a trainee at the Invader Academy, studying to become an Irken Elite. I asked the Tallests about her, and they said they didn't know anything. They'd look into it, as long as I did a small task for them. Killing _him_." She motioned her head towards Zim.

"Apparently that's harder than it looks. So, naturally, since I hadn't killed Zim, I wouldn't get my information. Then the Tallests told me if I don't ax him off by the end of the week I'd be next. So, pretty much, you two robbed me of all my dignity." Ashta held her gaze into Gaz's eyes strong. "Happy?"

Gaz shrugged. "Ish. I'm happy that you finally decided to open your mouth with something not totally worthless. But," Gaz paused, "If your leaders didn't know any information on this Izie person, couldn't they have easily found out? They are, after all, the rulers, right?"

Ashta hung her head. She felt stupid for saying this, but she never considered this possibility. She was so used to believing her leaders, she didn't feel the need to question them. Much to her surprise, Zim jumped in and said exactly this.

"I can understand why it would never occur to Ashta to question them. She, like most Irkens, is entirely devoted to her Empire, and the Tallest or Tallests who run it. It would actually be more abnormal than normal for her to second-guess the Tallests."

If she felt any positive emotion towards him, Ashta might have smiled at Zim. But while she was at his and Gaz's mercy, no such gratitude would be offered. Gaz nodded, understandingly.

"I get it, sort of."

Zim turned to Ashta, his face almost sympathetic. "Ashta, you realize that they never were going to tell you anything you wanted to know? You're just a pawn to them. A tool, who is completely expendable. The Tallests hold no real value in their citizens. Can't you see that they used you? They've been lying to you, just like they lied to me."

Ashta sat there, her mouth slightly agape. Was this really Zim? The short little Irken who was so completely devoted to his leaders he would literally go on a suicide mission for them? The loyal little guy who would believe anything The Tallests said, all because he wanted so desperately to prove himself to his people? Had finding out his leader's lie really changed him so much?

Secretly, Ashta knew everything Zim was saying was true. The Tallests had lied to her. They never trusted her. She was worthless to them. But what did it matter? Everything in Ashta's life was shot to pieces already. What good would making peace with the enemy do?

Ashta stared at Zim. "You lie!" she said. However, her eyes betrayed her. The face that never showed what she was truly thinking, and the padlocked eyes were blown wide open now. They showed the real conflict going on in her head, and how betrayed and stupid she felt. Her wall was gone, and Zim could finally read her.

"Ashta, you and I both know that I'm telling the truth. You just need to admit it to yourself. All this time you've just been driven on what the Tallests told you and your own rage. Don't let them win."

Ashta stared up at Zim, feeling weak and exposed, like a helpless smeet. Slowly the world around her melted, and there was only her and her thoughts. Is this what it felt to be all alone and with no one to help you? Is this what all her previous victims had felt before she killed them? She thought about her victims. She had killed so many Irkens and other beings, and ended so many lives just because she was foolish enough to believe lies. Was that really who she was? She made a mental check list.

My name is Ashta. Check.

I am an Irken. Check.

I am proud of being a bitch. Check.

I am...was an assassin. Check.

I am proud of my past deeds...Ashta could not find a immediate answer to that. If the answer wasn't definitely yes, did that make the answer no? This thought stewed in Ashta's mind for a bit, before being interrupted by a memory of what Zim had just said. "Don't let them win."

Zim. Ashta hated him so much. But, strangely, he seemed to be about the only person she felt she could trust in this state.

Slowly reality came back to Ashta and she felt some sort of liquid on her cheeks. Her immediate thought was that she was bleeding, but she realized the liquid was, in fact, her own tears. For the first time in years she was crying. Normally this would disgust Ashta, as it was a sign of weakness, but now it didn't seem to matter.

Ashta looked up at Zim, tears streaming down her face. How could she say what she wanted to without sounding weak? Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she needed to stop thinking emotions were weakness. After all, wasn't that what the Empire had bred her to think, that the only positive emotions were anger, hate, and rage?

"I'm sorry." Ashta said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Y-you're right. They did lie. I was an idiot to believe them. I'm just weak."

Now it was time for Gaz to step in. "Are you serious? You're calling yourself weak? Think about what you just did! You just overcame what you've been programed to believe your whole life in a matter of minutes. I wouldn't call that weak. Having you're own mind makes you pretty damn strong." She smiled. "Plus, remember, it took two people to take you down."

Ashta relaxed. Was she right? Separating herself from a cookie-cutter line of thinking was pretty impressive, but did it make her strong? "Thanks." Ashta said, half-smiling at Gaz.

…

"I don't suppose you're going to untie me, are you?"

Gaz shrugged. "I guess we can, but we're going to keep and eye on you for a while." She crouched down and used Mr. Cuts to cut the ropes holding Ashta down.

"I guess I'm not exactly the most trustworthy person yet. Fair enough, I understand." Ashta said, getting up and rubbing her arms, which had imprints on them from the tight bondage.

"Since the Ashta-beast is on our side now, does that mean she will be nicer to Zim and less of what humans call a 'bitch'?" Zim asked, hopefully.

Ashta looked at Zim. For a split second their eyes locked. She looked like she was seriously considering changing her personality. She then smiled.

"Hell no. Not in a million years."

**THE END! If your questions were NOT answered, they most likely will be answered in the next story, "The Feared One" by Invader Riyo.**

**If you are wondering about the ZaGr, Riyo will also continue that, too.**


	13. Farewell Notice

Hello, Kay-Kay, here. I'm not sure if any of you ever actually expected an update on the status of this fic and the series it was to be a part of, but now I offer you some closure.

My co-author and I will **NOT **be continuing on with this fic or its sequels. I am sorry, but both of us have lost interest for the Invader Zim fandom. Neither of us really read/write fanfiction for it anymore, and have moved on to other fandoms. For example, I am a completely active member of the **Hetalia: Axis Powers **fandom and read/write fics for it frequently, as does she.

I am sorry to all who were hoping for good news with this series. I will always miss/love my OCs for this fandom, even the ones you never had the pleasure of meeting, but I have moved on, and it is for the best.

**For the final time: Kay-Kay, signing off.**


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